Courtesy Dave Clinton
Courtesy Dave Clinton
RIGHT: Dave applying acryllic
resin. LEFT: The sealed wing
prior to installing the top skin.
Courtesy Dave Clinton
Courtesy Dave Clinton
LEFT: Legend builders have access to this educational turbine engine mockup.
ABOVE: Unfinished fuselage with engine mounted.
Turbine Design was located in DeLand, Florida. Coincidently, my mother-in-law also lived in DeLand, so I could
combine visits. In February 1999 I flew to Florida. I had
called ahead and made an appointment with the owner
of Turbine Design, Doug Karlson. Upon arrival I was
impressed with the company’s organized, well laid out
facility. There were five Legends lined up in cradles in fast-build configuration. I signed up for one of the kits and
engine packages on the spot. My plan was to commute
monthly for a week at a time and build the airplane while
staying with my mother-in-law. This worked for about a
year until, worn out, I decided to move the project closer
to my business in Carlsbad, California. The whole kit was
loaded on a truck for the journey west.
When I made the commitment to purchase the Legend
from Doug, I knew it was not a complete kit. Missing
were major components such as the cowling, the landing
gear, and the canopy assembly. The Legend was also not
a “mature kit” in the sense that all the instructions and
details of construction were not known or documented.
Papers Please
At AirVenture 1999, my focus was on the rules and process of the homebuilding experience. I was determined
to follow the rules explicitly and document all my
experiences. EAA has the FAA and industry publications
necessary to instruct one on how to meet the 51 percent
criteria. What followed for me was a separate and equally
enjoyable challenge of dotting every “i” and crossing
every “t” of the paperwork. When my Legend was certificated in 2004, the inspector commented that the
documentary package was the best he had ever seen. My
wife calls this obsessive-compulsive behavior, or worse.
I authored the build log, flight-test cards for each flight,
and maintenance manual and then created a ground and
flight training syllabus that is now accepted by the insurance industry for all Legend training.
While ferrying a T- 28 from Rockford to California in
the spring of 2000, I stopped by Performance Aircraft
in Kansas to discuss the remaining components. Part of
the delivery delay was that the factory was redesigning
the landing gear system. The setup I saw at the factory
convinced me to design my own. In the end I redesigned
three major components on my airplane: the landing
gear, cowling, and canopy system.
When the Legend arrived in California my focus
was on completing the canopy mold, blowing the new
canopy, and fitting all this to the fuselage. In addition
there were dozens of brackets, special attach points, and
engine plumbing on the to-do list. The search began for
a gear mechanism that would be more of a bolt-in solution as opposed to manufacturing every component. I
ultimately chose the gear mechanism and brakes from
a Piper Malibu. Not only did the gear fit the wing, but
also the down-lock mechanism was incorporated in each
actuator, which eliminated lots of hardware. To control
the system I chose a Cessna 337 reservoir and sequencing
component. The hydraulic pressure is supplied from a
pump designed for the Walter, a variable-flow constant-pressure type.
During 2002 the Legend was nearing a point that
made a hangar a necessity. Where I live north of San
Diego, the cost for hangars, if available, exceeds $1,000 a
month. Considering that I anticipated at least two more
